If the price is reasonable and it doesn't have purple blob issues, then I could very easily see this lens replacing my 7-14 PRO. Yes, I'd lose a mm on the wide end and lose a stop on the long end, but the filter threads and the fact that it go out to a 35mm eqv. focal length are big pluses IMO. My wife and I have an upcoming trip in early June to Switzerland and Germany, and I'd love to be able to bring this lens and circular filters instead of my 7-14 PRO plus the filter adapter and 100x100 slot-in filters.

Totally agree Ian - this is the lens I've been waiting for to replace my Panasonic 7-14 for exactly the same reasons. I really hope they've fixed the purple flare issue - it'll be a massive fail if they haven't. Given the excess of Oly cameras over Panasonic in the u43 world, it'll deny them a big market - definitely a case of shooting themselves in the foot!

Totally agree Ian - this is the lens I've been waiting for to replace my Panasonic 7-14 for exactly the same reasons. I really hope they've fixed the purple flare issue - it'll be a massive fail if they haven't. Given the excess of Oly cameras over Panasonic in the u43 world, it'll deny them a big market - definitely a case of shooting themselves in the foot!

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Isn't the purple blob issue because of the difference in how the companies handle that issue with Panasonic doing via a filter over the sensor and Olympus doing it in lens? With that being the case, I don't see how they could really fix it without effecting their cameras in some way..............don't really see them doing that.

Considering that Oly lenses which have that coating work fine on Panasonic I don't really think it affects lenses much. My guess is that you only lose a little bit of transmission. You can't really filter the same frequencies twice.

Isn't the purple blob issue because of the difference in how the companies handle that issue with Panasonic doing via a filter over the sensor and Olympus doing it in lens? With that being the case, I don't see how they could really fix it without effecting their cameras in some way..............don't really see them doing that.

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I don't know all the technical specifics, but from what I understand it comes to a difference in how the two companies manage the UV filtering. Panasonic chooses to manage the UV cut-off via a filter on-sensor, and so they don't worry about managing the UV cut-off in the lens (via types of glass, coatings, etc.). Olympus is the exact opposite, where they have a very weak on-sensor UV filter, but address most of the UV cut-off in-lens.

When using a Panasonic lens on an Olympus body, you end up with a lens that doesn't do much to address UV, and a sensor with a weak UV filter, resulting the purple blobs. Granted, I'm not certain why we generally only hear about this with the Panasonic 7-14 and not other Panasonic lenses (maybe they use a different coating in newer lenses, as the 7-14 was one of the first m43 lenses).

Either way, I'm hoping that it's not any issue with this lens on an Olympus body. I'm also hoping that this lens can delivery those signature PanaLeica sunstars that are present on their prime lenses.

Still an additional expense that is not needed for their cameras. I would be surprised if they did correct it since the two companies have a different approach to the same problem.

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I don't think anybody is expecting Olympus to do anything differently with their cameras. I think the more likely scenario is that the coating Panasonic would have used on this new lens are substantially better than those used on the 7-14, a lens that is nearly 4 years old, and that those newer coatings would do a better job of managing this issue.

I never had any issues with purple flare on my E-M1 with newer lenses like the PanaLeica 15mm, or the Panasonic 42.5mm, so I'm hoping that the newer coatings do the trick.

I think both are equally likely. To be honest, if they were smart they would do it. Few people would buy a Panasonic camera because of better compatibility withe the 8-18 but many would buy the lens to use on an Oly body, if the purple flare is corrected. From a business decision standpoint, there seems to only be one correct way to go about this.

That said, even businesses don't always act in a rational way. I think there is chance Panasonic will fix the issue. But it is as likely, that they just use whatever coating they always use.

I don't think anybody is expecting Olympus to do anything differently with their cameras. I think the more likely scenario is that the coating Panasonic would have used on this new lens are substantially better than those used on the 7-14, a lens that is nearly 4 years old, and that those newer coatings would do a better job of managing this issue.

I never had any issues with purple flare on my E-M1 with newer lenses like the PanaLeica 15mm, or the Panasonic 42.5mm, so I'm hoping that the newer coatings do the trick.

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I believe it has something to do with the wider focal length as it doesn't really happen (that I know of, but then again Panasonic makes no lenses I am interested in so never followed this problem closely) on anything from the same timeframe.

I still get purple blobs on my Olympus 8mm 1.8 Fisheye, so I think it's less about the lens and more about how Olympus handles sensor filtering. The Sam/Rok 7.5mm FE on the other hand has incredibly good flare resistance in comparison.

Even if the 8-18 does produce purple flares on Olympus sensors, it will be an extremely easy fix, just by adding a 2A UV cut filter to the front.

The only reason it's even a problem at all on the 7-14/f4 is because it requires a custom rear filter holder and the additional of a somewhat delicate filter gel. That's not the case on this lens sincs it will have traditional front filter threads.

That said, people often seem to think that the purple flare is a flaw with Panasonic's lenses, and not a flaw with Olympus' sensor stack filtration, so it might be simpler for Panasonic to just add different coatings to the lens and head that problem off before people can spout bad PR without understanding the root causes.

Granted, I'm not certain why we generally only hear about this with the Panasonic 7-14 and not other Panasonic lenses (maybe they use a different coating in newer lenses, as the 7-14 was one of the first m43 lenses).

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The wider the angle, the more likely it is that the sun (and it's flare) will affect the frame. You'd have to intentionally point a telephoto at the sun to get the same thing, but with a UWA you almost have to specifically point away from the sun to avoid it.

That said, people often seem to think that the purple flare is a flaw with Panasonic's lenses, and not a flaw with Olympus' sensor stack filtration, so it might be simpler for Panasonic to just add different coatings to the lens and head that problem off before people can spout bad PR without understanding the root causes.

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Who said that it's a Panasonic flaw?

I've never come across that before. Instead, everything I've ever come across talks about the difference in philosophy of how Panasonic & Olympus address filter UV light. Panasonic tends to do it on-sensor, and Olympus tends to do it in-lens. I don't think one way is wrong or right, but I do believe that Panasonic's method is more robust in that it would account for any lens mounted, whereas Olympus' method would not.

It's kind of like the IBIS vs OIS debate before Panasonic started putting IBIS in all of its bodies. Neither way was wrong, but Olympus' implementation yielded a far more robust design in terms of compatibility with other lenses.

The wider the angle, the more likely it is that the sun (and it's flare) will affect the frame. You'd have to intentionally point a telephoto at the sun to get the same thing, but with a UWA you almost have to specifically point away from the sun to avoid it.

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I'm aware, but I've taken plenty of images with my PanaLeica 15, PanaLeica 25, and Panasonic 42.5 on my Olympus cameras, and never had this issue. The sun would be in-frame, just out-of-frame, at and angle to the front element, and I never had this issue. That's what had me questioning whether or not it could be addressed via newer coatings (4 years of difference is quite significant) and thus the PanaLeica 8-18 may be better off than the Panasonic 7-14.

At this point, it's all speculation. We won't know for sure until there are some actual hands-on reports. I'm just hoping that there will be a series of hands-on reviews that come out on Wednesday after the lens is announced, and that some of those specifically look to address this point.

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